Bergen, Norway

July 5 –

We awoke to a beautiful sunny and warm day in Bergen. This is the second largest city in Norway with a population of nearly 280,000.  The metropolitan area has nearly 420,000 people.  The city is very picturesque.  The city center and northern neighborhoods lie on Byfjorden, the city fjord.  It has a large harbor and the city itself is ringed by seven mountains.  Legend has it that seven trolls came to the area looking for a place where they could sleep out of sunlight (trolls turn to stone in the sun). They picked this place because it gets so much rain and they thought they would be safe. They fell asleep and to their great misfortune Bergen  had a sunny day.  They turned to stone and now are the granite mountains ringing the city.

A little aside.  We have been incredibly fortunate with the weather on this leg of our voyage.  Every place we’ve stopped in Norway we’ve been told, “Oh, you are so lucky. The last two weeks the weather has been awful.”  Perhaps the country needs to pay us to come!

Back to Bergen.  The city was founded in the late 11^th century.  By the late  13^th century it was a major trading center of the Hanseatic League, which was a powerful confederation of merchant guilds from northern Germany.  For a long period of time it dominated all trade in the Baltic and up the coast of Norway to Bergen.  In the old city of Bergen you can see the old trading houses.  They were made of wood and the water side of the buildings could be opened so that ships could be tied up right next to them to load and unload. 

 

The yellow buildings on the right are in the Hanseatic style.  The dormer on each was actually a place for a winch to raise and lower cargo.

Our tour this morning took us first to the Ulriken cable car for a quick ride up to the summit of Mount Ulriken, the highest of the seven peaks around the city.  At the top we were at approximately 2000 feet. An interesting piece of trivia our guide told us.  The cable car ride takes about 7 to 9 minutes.  A couple of years there was an extreme mountain bike competition in Bergen.  Someone rode his mountain bike down in 3 minutes!  And he survived!  The view from the top was great.  We could see the various districts spread beneath us.  I forgot to say that along the way we drove through the old town and across the bay to a newer section (still several hundred years old).  The city has had many fires because most of the buildings are made of wood so most are not original.  They are still old by our American standards.

Bergen from Mount Ulriken

New "old" Bergen

After descending we proceeded to our next stop, the Fantoft Stave Church.  A stave church is a wooden structure which uses no nails to hold it together.  It’s basically put together like a puzzle with posts and lintels holding everything in place.  This type was very common in northern Europe centuries ago but few remain.  The Fantoft Church was originally built around 1150 in a village on the Sognefjord (we were near there a few days ago).  In the 19^th century it was threatened with demolition.  A man from Bergen saved it by having it taken apart and moved to Bergen.  Sitting in a wooden structure that old is quite remarkable.  The roof is quite interesting.  It’s decorated with crosses and dragons.  Both symbols were meant to ward off evil, one in Christianity and the other in Norse mythology.

 

Interior of the Fantoft Stave Church

Dragons on the roof

And crosses

After leaving the church we headed back to the city center passing through a tunnel which took us to the north side.  The Norwegians are great diggers.  After passing through more of the old city we opted to leave the tour and walk around through the old Hanseatic district and have lunch there.  Our guide had recommended one named Bryggen Tracteursted. We haven’t a clue what it meant but after wandering a little we found it.  It occupied an old wooden building with a slate floor which sloped down toward the water.  The waiter told us this was not the original building; it was the new one.  The original burned in a big fire in 1703.  The new one was rebuilt in 1708.  Very modern, right?  Definitely this was not McDonalds.  After a nice lunch we walked along the waterfront past the old fortress and back to the ship.

The Bryggen Tracteursted Restaurant (the new one built in 1708)

Sailing from Bergen is pretty spectacular too.  We sailed under two large suspension bridges and through an archipelago of little islands for a couple of hours before heading out in the sea.

One of the two suspension bridges we sailed under

For no particular reason I'm adding this photo of the shipload of timber following us out.  Do you suppose he's headed to a furniture factory in China to make things which will be shipped back here to Norway?  Who knows.

We thought Bergen was a very charming city.  I think it would warrant another visit or a longer stay.  Once again we were impressed with the cleanliness and the friendliness of the people.